A bizarre season for the defending world champion San Francisco Giants took yet another snakebitten turn on Thursday.
Reliever Jeremy Affeldt has been ruled out for the season because of a backyard BBQ. No, really.
Per MLB.com’s Adam Berry:
“Affeldt hurt his hand while slicing frozen burgers in his backyard, and the paring knife cut down to the bone in his lower right palm and caused nerve damage, leaving him without feeling in his right pinky in what Giants manager Bruce Bochy an “unfortunate accident.””
Losing one of their most consistent relievers to such a bizarre injury — Affeldt finishes his season at 3-2 with a 2.63 ERA and 13 holds — is almost certainly the final nail in the coffin for the Giants’ title defense. The team never really seemed to recover from losing Buster Posey at the end of May in a violent home plate collision against the Marlins.
Now the team must go down the stretch without one of their bullpen stalwarts, trying to make up an 8.5-game deficit with 17 games to play to a surging Diamondbacks club that has played well beyond their years this season.
As for Affeldt himself, next time he’ll probably defrost those burgers in the microwave instead of trying to slice them while still frozen.
